Millions of Australians seem to want this election over already, with a record number casting pre-poll votes this year. Yet in a cruel twist, this ballot-busting early turnout could actually delay the final result being known.

Key points:

3 million pre-poll votes have already been cast, and a further 1.4 million postal votes are expected

Vote counting issues could delay the election result being known on Saturday

Parliament is expected to examine pre-poll voting after the election

There have been 3 million pre-poll votes cast as of Wednesday morning — up from about 1.8 million at this stage of the last election — and Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said the nation was on track to "easily" set a new record.

"As a total, I think about 3.2 million people voted early at the last election, and given that the last three days are always the busiest we're expecting that to be significantly increased," he said.

"Just yesterday it was 400,000 in one day."

At the same time, about 1.4 million people have also applied for a postal vote this election, which Mr Rogers said was also an increase on the last election.